Privacy Policy

Bell Lax Solicitors Privacy Policy

Bell Lax is committed to protecting your personal data.  This Privacy Policy sets out the basis on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us.

Bell Lax Limited, (“Bell Lax”) 5 Emmanuel Court, 2 Mill Street, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B72 1TJ (ICO registration number ZA143054) is the Data Controller of the personal data we process and is responsible for ensuring our systems, processes, suppliers and employees comply with the data protection laws in relation to the data we handle.

The Data Protection Principles

Everyone at Bell Lax is responsible for complying with the eight principles relating to personal information (summarised below) that are contained in the data protection laws.

Such information must be:

1. Fairly and lawfully processed
2. Processed for a specific purpose
3. Adequate, relevant and not excessive
4. Accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
5. Not kept longer than is necessary
6. Processed in line with the rights of the individual
7. Kept secure
8. Not transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area unless the information is adequately protected

What information do we collect about our clients?

• Client information - This can include contact details, bank details and copies of ID documents and records.
• Matter file information - The personal data we hold for each client will vary depending on the nature of the matter on which we are advising.  By way of example, this can include among other things: tax details, marriage details, employment details, directorship details, shareholdings details, personal correspondence, medical history and conditions.
• Marketing information - Contact details, preferences to receive updates about the law and relevant events.
• Monitoring - CCTV footage (external) for security purposes when clients visit our offices.

How we will collect your personal information?

We may collect your personal information directly from you during the process of you engaging us to provide legal services or during the course of taking your instructions or providing you with legal advice.  We may also collect information from other sources including publically available registers, Companies House, court transcripts, credit searches and private investigators.

How we will use your information?

We will only use your information when it is lawful and legal to do so.  We are most likely to use your personal information for the following purposes:

1. When we perform the contract for legal services entered into with you.
2. When we need to comply with our legal obligations.
3. For our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) to provide you with advice or assistance or in managing our business, but only where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
4. You have given consent for us to use your personal information for a specific purpose and you have not then withdrawn it.
5. To protect your interests (or someone else’s).
6. In the public interest when needed.

We will process your personal data in the following situations:

1. To provide legal services under a contract with you
2. For business administration
3. For commercial purposes (e.g. creditworthiness)
4. When required by law (e.g. anti-money laundering)
5. To comply with our statutory and regulatory obligations
6. To provide you with information about our services
7. To invite you to events which may be of interest to you
8. For marketing and advertising purposes

Failure to provide personal information

If you fail to provide certain personal information when we request it, we may not be able to perform legal obligations or contractual duties to you properly, such as making payments to or on your behalf or providing you with legal advice.

Sensitive personal information

We may also collect, store or use, to pursue or defend a legal claim special categories of more sensitive personal information such as:

• Information about health, including sickness records, medical conditions and other records
• Information about race or ethnicity, religious beliefs trade union membership, sexual orientation and political opinion
• Information about criminal convictions and offences

We only will process these ‘special categories of personal data’ in the following exceptional circumstances:

• To the extent necessary to pursue or defend a legal claim or
• With your written consent which you can withdraw at any time.

Data sharing

We may share your personal information with third party providers, where this is reasonably necessary, for the purposes set out in this policy.  This may include other lawyers, barristers, advisers and expert witnesses, courts, regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies.

We may also disclose data if we are under a duty to share your personal data to comply with our legal obligations, or to enforce or apply our terms of business  and other agreements from time to time or to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property or safety of our clients or others.

We have third party service providers who require access to your personal data in the course of providing their services to us.  This includes IT support, practice management systems, document management systems, case management systems, printing and reprographics support, banking organisations who handle our credit/debit card transactions and marketing. 

All third party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies.  We do NOT allow third parties to use your personal data for their own purposes.

We may share your personal data with other third parties, for example with a prospective buyer in any potential sale of Bell Lax or parts of the business. 

We may transfer your personal information outside the EU.  If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.  Where any transfer is made to another lawyer, advisor or expert witness outside of the EU we will usually do this on the basis that the transfer is necessary for the performance of our contract with you. Currently all our IT, website services and servers are based in England.

Data Security

We have in place security measures to protect your personal information from accidentally being lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

We have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Data retention

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it for, including the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

Individual rights

We will process data in line with your rights, including the right to:

• Request a copy of your personal data;
• Request that any inaccurate personal data is corrected;
• Request that your personal data is deleted and destroyed when causing damage or distress; and
• Opt out of receiving electronic communications from us.

Should you wish to make a request in line with your rights as an individual, please forward it to the Data Controller, who will deal with it in accordance with our Subject Access Request Policy, a copy of which is available on request.

Changes to this policy

We reserve the right to revise this policy at any time.  When we make substantial updates or changes, we will post them on our website and, where appropriate, notify you by email.

Complaints

If you have any concerns over how we use your data, please contact our Data Controller or our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice in the first instance at dataprotection@belllax.com.

If you are not satisfied that we have addressed your concerns adequately, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO. Their contact details are below:

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House, Water Lane,

Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF

Tel 0303 123 1113  www.ico.org.uk